Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2019 10:11:03 GMT -6
After being inspired by the excellent AARs that others have going on I decided to try my own hand at writing one. Any and all comments and criticisms are most welcome.
Nation: Austria-Hungary
Fleet size: Large
Budget: Historical
Research rate: 90%
Legacy fleet: AI built
Combat: Rear admiral
1900
January
I must confess I’m still not able to entirely able to believe that the past weeks have actually happened. Any moment now I expect to awaken in back in Pola still a Counter admiral, instead I remain here in Vienna as a full Admiral. When His Majesty Archduke Franz Ferdinand had invited me to accompany him on a hunt, I never suspected it would end with my being given command of the entire navy in Emperor Franz Josephs name. I can only pray to God that I will be able to match my predecessors drive to carry the fleet forward.
The late Admiral Spaun has not left me with an insignificant force, he worked hard to clear out the old and obsolete, fighting for the funding to build truly modern vessels.
The core of the fleet are our battleships, 5 Kaiser class with a 6th under construction.
They are much smaller warships than those of the other powers and are limited in both range and crew comfort but will suit our needs for the time. I believe them to be an adequate match for the Italian Roma class.
In support are our destroyers, 7 of the new 500t Panther class and the older 4 ship 400t Kigio class.
Again, comparing to the other powers these compare favourably, although I find the Panther design slightly inefficient. It is based on a British design which while excellent, was created with a larger area of operations than what we face in mind. In our confined waters speed and weaponry are better uses for tonnage than coal and beds.
The influence of Mahan on Admiral Spaun’s building program is apparent when we look abroad, numerically we compare favourably with the battle lines of other powers but are totally lacking in cruisers.
Upon reviewing the budget my first move was to increase the funding of our various research projects, these now receive 12% of the entire naval budget. I hold no illusions of matching the rest of the world on a ship for ship basis, we must look for other ways to gain the advantage. That being said I also decided to reduce the priority of looking into the new field of submersibles, there might be potential but for now I feel the development of new domestic gun designs is more important. Right now, we largely rely on licensed designs from Germany, a situation I wish to improve as swiftly as possible.
June
The past months have been relatively quiet which has allowed me to become more comfortable in my new role. For now I am content to complete the construction of the battleship Zrinyi before ordering any new construction. The limited funding allowed by the Diet and Imperial Council can only go so far.
There was some excitement about a conference at The Hague possibly producing a treaty on naval arms limits. I recommended to our representative to appear reasonable but don’t agree to anything unless it’s us against the world, I suspect every other diplomat in attendance had gotten similar instructions as nothing was agreed to.
November
A welcome surprise came this month in the form of a budget increase. The Diet of Hungary is a difficult stone to squeeze blood from, I will need to find a way to make spending money on our fleet more palatable to them if I want to get further increases to spending in the future.
December
At a Christmas Ball I was asked by several army officers who the navy judged to be the Empire’s most likely opponent. My response was Italy, said slightly too loudly it seems for I am told the Italian ambassador overheard both the question and my answer. There was some uproar in the Italian papers about ‘Imperial Warmongering’ but so far that has been the extent of the fallout.
Nation: Austria-Hungary
Fleet size: Large
Budget: Historical
Research rate: 90%
Legacy fleet: AI built
Combat: Rear admiral
1900
January
I must confess I’m still not able to entirely able to believe that the past weeks have actually happened. Any moment now I expect to awaken in back in Pola still a Counter admiral, instead I remain here in Vienna as a full Admiral. When His Majesty Archduke Franz Ferdinand had invited me to accompany him on a hunt, I never suspected it would end with my being given command of the entire navy in Emperor Franz Josephs name. I can only pray to God that I will be able to match my predecessors drive to carry the fleet forward.
The late Admiral Spaun has not left me with an insignificant force, he worked hard to clear out the old and obsolete, fighting for the funding to build truly modern vessels.
The core of the fleet are our battleships, 5 Kaiser class with a 6th under construction.
They are much smaller warships than those of the other powers and are limited in both range and crew comfort but will suit our needs for the time. I believe them to be an adequate match for the Italian Roma class.
In support are our destroyers, 7 of the new 500t Panther class and the older 4 ship 400t Kigio class.
Again, comparing to the other powers these compare favourably, although I find the Panther design slightly inefficient. It is based on a British design which while excellent, was created with a larger area of operations than what we face in mind. In our confined waters speed and weaponry are better uses for tonnage than coal and beds.
The influence of Mahan on Admiral Spaun’s building program is apparent when we look abroad, numerically we compare favourably with the battle lines of other powers but are totally lacking in cruisers.
Upon reviewing the budget my first move was to increase the funding of our various research projects, these now receive 12% of the entire naval budget. I hold no illusions of matching the rest of the world on a ship for ship basis, we must look for other ways to gain the advantage. That being said I also decided to reduce the priority of looking into the new field of submersibles, there might be potential but for now I feel the development of new domestic gun designs is more important. Right now, we largely rely on licensed designs from Germany, a situation I wish to improve as swiftly as possible.
June
The past months have been relatively quiet which has allowed me to become more comfortable in my new role. For now I am content to complete the construction of the battleship Zrinyi before ordering any new construction. The limited funding allowed by the Diet and Imperial Council can only go so far.
There was some excitement about a conference at The Hague possibly producing a treaty on naval arms limits. I recommended to our representative to appear reasonable but don’t agree to anything unless it’s us against the world, I suspect every other diplomat in attendance had gotten similar instructions as nothing was agreed to.
November
A welcome surprise came this month in the form of a budget increase. The Diet of Hungary is a difficult stone to squeeze blood from, I will need to find a way to make spending money on our fleet more palatable to them if I want to get further increases to spending in the future.
December
At a Christmas Ball I was asked by several army officers who the navy judged to be the Empire’s most likely opponent. My response was Italy, said slightly too loudly it seems for I am told the Italian ambassador overheard both the question and my answer. There was some uproar in the Italian papers about ‘Imperial Warmongering’ but so far that has been the extent of the fallout.
. If you are doing sideview of your ships, I do strongly encourage you to grab the
